There has been an animated discussion in Brussels about the situation at the Polish-German borders that has recently refocused attention on the controls that are being felt by entrepreneurs operating in Szczecin and the Polish-German border.
“As Western Pomerania, we highly value our good cooperation with partners from Germany. Many investments were located close to the border because of the free passage. Workers from Szczecin work in Schwedt, Loeckitz, Prenzlau or Pasewalk. Now their peace is disturbed, because they never know if they will get to work on time and whether there will be a control or no control. We do not like it and would like Members of the European Parliament to treat this issue as an economically important one, not an opportunity for political squabbles,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin and President of the Union of Odor and Elbe Chambers.
Is the flow of workers between Poland and Germany at risk?
The issue of controls on the Polish and German borders is an important issue from an international point of view, but given the economic situation in Western Pomerania, we cannot leave this issue without comment. Western Pomerania has several border crossings with Germany. Our cooperation and economic relations until the pandemic were practically perfect, and the residents of Szczecin were eager to work in Germany. Many people still work in Szczecin while living in border towns.
The current border controls concern entrepreneurs for several reasons.
“We should not only look at this matter from the perspective of whether the controls cause traffic jams at the border crossings or not. The situation here is different. On one hand, we get information that there are very intensive checks that cause serious, even several-hundred-meter-long queues to the German border. However, these are relatively incidental situations. No less uncertainty as to whether a check will be carried out or not, means that entrepreneurs and their employees have to plan their commute to and from work anew and with plenty of time allowance,” says Hanna Mojsiuk.
Entrepreneurs focus on other aspects of control.
“The value of the Schengen area was the free flow of goods, services and workers. Now, the closure of Germany’s internal borders means that the zone has, in fact, been suspended, and we cannot be sure whether entrepreneurs will be able to cross the border without problems. We do not know whether this attitude will not make investors stop seeing our region as a place where it is worth investing in their business. We may use our geographical rent less intensively, which until now was our great economic value,” says Hanna Mojsiuk.
The Northern Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Odor and Elbe Chambers express understanding for the German party’s concern about the safety of its residents and desire to prevent an uncontrolled influx of migrants. We, however, have the impression that this intensification of action is motivated by the electoral period and does not take into account the interests of all signatories and beneficiaries of the Schengen area, in particular of entrepreneurs who have built their businesses on the border based on the consideration of the free movement of goods, services and people. This situation, however, should be sorted in a different way, which would reconcile the interests of all parties.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/kontrole-na-granicy-polsko-niemieckiej-zagrozeniem-dla-przedsiebiorcow-62689
